Google I/O 2011 Keynote Speech Highlights

This year's Google I/O opening keynote speech held some awesome announcements for Android.

Google's I/O Conference Homepage

Given that this is the first I/O that I've experienced while owning an Android device, I was definitely excited to see some of the things that were announced.  Relevant links are in the descriptions to the videos on their respective YouTube pages.  A complete list of all announcements can be found on the I/O conference homepage.

Android Market Movie Rentals
Similar to the Movies section that was recently added to YouTube, the Android Market now has a Movies section too.

Movies in the Android Market

The movies can be rented from the Market to be viewed on your PC.  Updates will be coming to the mobile Android Market as well as a dedicated Movie player.  The Movie player will be available soon for devices running Android 2.2 and higher and will also be bundled in with the upcoming Honeycomb 3.1 update for Tablets.

Honeycomb 3.1
Honeycomb 3.1 brings with it some updates and improvements to the user interface of Honeycomb.

Some of the changes of 3.1

Along with the ability to have a longer list of recently opened apps and resizeable widgets.  One of my favorite updates is the support for USB devices.  What this brings is the ability to use a variety of USB accessories on your tablet including keyboards, mice, and even game controllers.  The keynote speech had a quick shot of someone playing a game on a Xoom with an Xbox 360 Wired Controller.  As a gamer, I think this is awesome!  Even better, I already own a wired controller that I use on my laptop.

The update which will roll out in the next couple of days for the Verizon Xoom and then afterwards for the WiFi Xoom.  Updates for other Honeycomb tablets like the Acer Iconia, and the ASUS Transformer will be rolled out in subsequent weeks.  Along with the UI and USB updates, two new apps will be included with the 3.1 update.  One is the Movie app which I mentioned above, the other is the Music app.

Music by Google
Music by Google is a new cloud based service from Google which is similar to Amazon Cloud Player.

Music by Google

The difference between the Amazon cloud player is that Music by Google will not have the option to purchase music.  It will only allow you to upload music from your existing collection and then play it from any web browser or Android device.  Unfortunately the PC/MAC client for uploading to the cloud is only available to those in the U.S. by invitation.  It can however be downloaded from the Android Market right now and be used to play music that is locally stored on your device's memory card.
The Music app is pretty nice and has a nice interface.  It may be a sign of things to come in the future update to Android, Ice Cream Sandwich.

Ice Cream Sandwich
In keeping with the dessert theme of all previous versions of Android (Donut, Eclair, Froyo) the latest version will be called Ice Cream Sandwich.

With a new version of Android, comes a new logo

Ice Cream Sandwich (saying that over and over is going to get annoying) will bring a unified UI to both phones and tablets for a seamless user experience.  There was also talk of Android putting its foot down and trying to put an end to fragmentation by having future updates available across all devices that run Ice Cream Sandwich (really annoying).  Ice Cream Sandwich will be available later this year.

The Rest of the Announcements
Along with the stuff mentioned above, there was something called Google @ Home announced which is a series of devices with processors that are built to integrate with Android devices.  Examples of using this technology include using your device to control your home's lights and thermostat and even integrating a game with lighting in the home so that every time you get shot the lights in your room flicker.

NFC chips, like those used in the Samsung Nexus S, were also on hand and demonstrated with Google @ Home.  CD cases with integrated NFC chips were held up to a stereo, which had access to a Music by Google cloud library, and the stereo read the NFC chip and played that album.  Pretty cool stuff.  Pretty soon your blender will be able to run Android apps.

That's it for my highlights of the keynote speech.  If you're interested in seeing it for yourself, it's available here.